At the call of the Saccrage 2024 collective, around fifty demonstrators met on Sunday, in front of the headquarters of the Organization Committee of the Olympic Games in Seine-Saint-Denis.
By Robin Richardot
The five Olympic rings were barred below the slogan “Cojo: the party is over”. The deployed banner sums up the watchword of the demonstration held Sunday, December 11, in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), in front of the headquarters of the Organization Committee of the Olympic Games (COJO) Paris 2024. About fifty people gathered in the cold, at the initiative of the Saccrage 2024 collective, created in November 2020, to oppose the “ecological, democratic, social ransacking” of the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2024, according to the call of the ‘Organizer.
The date was not chosen at random since the next day, Monday, December 12, the Cojo board of directors must present its budget review for the Games. It is expected to increase by 400 million euros, an increase of around 10 %. According to Paris 2024, half of this increase is attributable to inflation. “From the start, the budget presented was neither credible nor serious,” denounces Frédéric Viale, teacher and member of the Chasse 2024 collective. And all activists are convinced that it will not be the last increase, this which goes wrong in these times of crisis.
“On the one hand we will force the inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis to tighten the belt, ask us to cut the heating or the electricity, on the other we have an opaque budget of the exploding games, supports Arthur, 25, referent of the organization. We are there to show the cojo that we are watching them despite the cold and trying to put the pressure on them. “
” A Trojan horse To concrete more and more “
Micro in hand, Nora, another militant of the collective, begins her speaking by paying tribute to the thousands of workers who would have died during the construction of stadiums for the World Cup in Qatar. “The scandals around these mega competitions are not only there, it also happens here,” she said, taking the example of undocumented workers on current sites in Ile-de-France and their working conditions. “We are told about employment by employment but in reality we just use people in precarious situations,” adds Arthur. The activist then continues on the issue of volunteering, which is also close to the demonstrators. They denounce “concealed work” in a commercial operation for the benefit of the International Olympic Committee which will withdraw many benefits from the competition.
In conversations, ecological arguments arrive as quickly as the accusations of “greenwashing” towards the Olympic committee. Several associations contesting urban planning projects, notably for the defense of the Aubervilliers workers’ gardens, were represented. Michèle Loup, a 76 -year -old retired, was there for the collective “for the Gonesse triangle”, which has been fighting for ten years against the urbanization of fertile land in the north of Paris. “The games are a Trojan horse to concrete more and more, she breathes. All these climaticid projects, we can see it in Qatar at the moment, continue to make sure that we consume the resources of six planets when we only have one. “
You have 28.86% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.